1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a pipe having a partition formed within it and an end-closed pipe in which an end portion of a pipe portion is closed, and also a method of producing thereof. Further, this invention also relates to a heat exchanger header and a method of producing therefor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a heat exchanger for a condenser or the like, a partition has theretofore been formed within a header so as to change the flow passage of a fluid, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. Hei. 4-63982.
In a conventional method of producing such a header (hereinafter referred to as "partitioned header") with a partition for a heat exchanger, a material, comprising an aluminum alloy material having a brazing material, clad or formed on its outer surface, is cut into a predetermined length to provide a pipe 11 for the header as shown in FIG. 27A. Thereafter, tube insertion holes 13, a divide-mounting slit 15, a fluid inlet port 17 and a fluid outlet port 19 are formed in the pipe 11 as shown in FIG. 27B. A divide 21, comprising an aluminum alloy material having a brazing material clad on this opposite sides or faces, is then inserted into the divide-mounting slit 15, and is provisionally secured thereto by argon arc welding, thereby partitioning the interior of the pipe 11 into two halves. A patch 23 of an aluminum alloy is press-fitted into each of the opposite ends of the pipe 11.
In order to produce a heat exchanger of the type within which a cooling medium makes a U-turn, one end of tubes of a core (which comprises alternately-stacked tubes (each comprising an aluminum alloy material having a brazing material clad on its outer surface) and fins (each made of an aluminum alloy having no brazing material clad thereon)) are fitted in the tube insertion hole 13 in the pipe whereas the other ends of the tubes are fitted respectively in tube insertion holes in a header with no partition, and these parts are fixed relative to each other by a jig or the like. Then, this assembly is heated in a furnace with a non-corrosive flux coated onto the relevant portions to be brazed, or heated in a vacuum furnace without coating a flux, so that the tubes and the fins are brazed to each other, and also the divide 21, the patches 23 and the tubes are brazed to the pipe 21. Reference numeral 25 in FIG. 27D designates the brazing of the divide 21, so that the interior of the pipe 11 is kept in a liquid-tight manner.
Such a conventional partitioned header for a heat exchanger is disadvantageous in that the cost of the material is high. Another problem is that the brazing of the divide 21 to the pipe 11 has sometimes been found defective. More specifically, the divide 21 is inserted into the slit 15 in the pipe 11, and is brazed to the slit 15 and to the inner surface of the pipe 11. To accomplish this brazing, the divide 21 comprises an aluminum alloy material having a brazing material clad on each side or face thereof. In theory, when the brazing material on the outer surface of the pipe 11 is drawn toward the area of brazing between the tube insertion hole 13 and the tube during the brazing, the brazing material on the divide is also drawn because the brazing material on the divide 23 is in contact with the brazing material on the pipe 11.
Further, since the patches 23 are press-fitted and brazed into each of the opposite ends of the pipe 11 to close the both ends of the pipe 11, the manufacturing steps are increased.